A Kabul court on Saturday found a communist-era intelligence chief guilty of ordering hundreds of killings a quarter-century ago and sentenced him to death by shooting. Relatives of the dead cried out: "God is Great!" Asadullah Sarwari headed the government's feared intelligence department in 1978 after a Soviet-backed communist takeover, which was followed by a ruthless crackdown on its opponents. He later served as vice president. "The government at the time was like a machine and I was just a part of the machine," Sarwari, 64, wearing glasses and sporting a graying beard, told the court. The court heard testimony Saturday from more than 20 witnesses who claimed to have lost relatives, and saw video footage of documents, allegedly signed by Sarwari, in which he ordered killings. Ghalam Sakhi Abasy, the state prosecutor, told The Associated Press that he had documented evidence of more than 400 killings ordered by Sarwari. ... http://www.usatoday.com

Bombs and gunfire killed about 60 persons as another daytime curfew yesterday failed to halt violence that has claimed nearly 200 lives since the bombing of a Shi'ite shrine set off a wave of retribution against Sunnis and pushed Iraq toward civil war. In an unusual round of telephone diplomacy, President Bush spoke with seven leaders of Shi'ite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish political parties to try to defuse the sectarian crisis unleashed by the heavy damage to the Shi'ites' Askariya shrine in Samarra. Mr. Bush "encouraged them to continue to work together to thwart the efforts of the perpetrators of the violence to sow discord," said Frederick Jones, a spokesman for the White House's National Security Council. Reprisal attacks that followed the Wednesday blast in Samarra derailed talks on forming a new Iraqi government and threaten Washington's goal of building up a self-sufficient Iraq free of U.S. military involvement. A second straight day of curfew in Baghdad and three surrounding ...http://www.washtimes.com/world/20060226-125010-8880r.htm

Hundreds of inmates, some of them convicted al-Qaida and Taliban militants, used knives and clubs made from furniture to overpower guards and take control of parts of a high-security prison in Afghanistan's capital, officials said Sunday. Local media reported several people were killed and dozens injured. But it appeared security forces had yet to gain access to parts of the jail under prisoners' control, so officials could not confirm reports of casualties. One official said at least four inmates had been injured. The Afghan army said it had deployed 800 soldiers, some with rocket-propelled grenade launchers, to surround the Policharki Prison. With NATO peacekeepers, they parked at least 10 tanks and armored personnel carriers outside the gates. Government officials tried to negotiate through loudspeakers with the inmates. Their demands were not known. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1664257

Bomb blasts and gunfire killed at least 21 people, including two U.S. soldiers, in Baghdad and nearby towns Sunday as an emergency daylight curfew was lifted in three provinces following the bombing of a Shiite shrine and a wave of retribution against Sunnis. Authorities reported no progress in the hunt for kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll, who reportedly was threatened with death at midnight if her abductors demands were not met."Our forces raided some suspected places, but she was not there," said Maj. Falah al-Mohammedawi, an official at the Interior Ministry. "We are watching the situation closely."The 28-year-old freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad and last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Rai....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-02-26-iraq_x.htm?csp=34

Iran has agreed in principle on a joint venture with Russia to enrich uranium. But further talks are needed, said the head of Iran's nuclear agency, Gholamreza Aghazadeh. The Russian compromise proposal is that Iran move all the sensitive parts of its nuclear programme to Russian soil to ally Western concerns. But it is thought unlikely Iran would agree to this. Tehran says it will not give up its current enrichment programme resumed earlier this month. Mr Aghazadeh was speaking at a news conference in the southern city of Bushehr with his visiting Russian counterpart, Sergei Kiriyenko. He said any deal to form a joint company for producing nuclear fuel would have to go further and be part of a wider package if it were to resolve the current crisis. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4752620.stm

Iraqi police stepped up the search for kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll, even conducting some raids, but reported no new developments Sunday — the deadline set by her captors for the United States to meet their demands to save Carroll's life. The 28-year-old freelancer for the Christian Science Monitor was kidnapped Jan. 7 in Baghdad and last seen in a videotape broadcast Feb. 9 by the private Kuwaiti television station Al-Rai.Station owner Jassem Boudai said then that the kidnappers had set Feb. 26 as the deadline for U.S. and Iraqi authorities to meet their demands or they would kill her. He didn't say whether they specified a time for the deadline Sunday or meant by the end of the day....http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-02-26-carroll-developments_x.htm?csp=34